October 3, 2012

Germans attempt to smuggle over 200 live tarantulas

Filed under: Animals,Weird by Orangemaster @ 8:34 pm

Customs at Schiphol airport intercepted some Germans with over 200 live tarantulas and other creepy crawlies they brought back in their suitcases from their travels to Peru. This could have been their idea of money making souvenirs just in time for Halloween.

Not only did they ‘hide’ the arachnoids and insects in plastic containers, but also in their clothes and shoes. The whole lot is poisonous and will be examined by entomologists and whatever the name is of experts who analyse spiders.

(Link: www.rijksoverheid.nl, Photo of Ctenus exlineae (F Ctenidae) by Marshal Hedin, some rights reserved)

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May 29, 2012

Schiphol Airport Library, a world premiere that’s taking off

Filed under: Aviation,Dutch first,Literature by Orangemaster @ 12:22 pm
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Although it has been around for two years, the Schiphol Airport Library deserves more exposure, especially since it offers a free service, something that you’d be hard pressed to find at any airport. English Breakfast radio in Amsterdam interviewed head librarian Jeanine Deckers who explained that Singapore’s Airport also started up a library, based on the one at Schiphol.

The library takes up a 90 m2 space and is located in the non-Schengen area, past security, near the Rijksmuseum (State Museum) area. It features about 1,250 books, including translated Dutch fiction in 30 languages, photo books, videos and music on iPads. They don’t offer the most recent books, which is fine with the book sellers at the airport. People also donate books to the library, which apparently more than makes up for the few books that are not returned. The library is also open 24/7 and doesn’t need any staff.

This means that I have walked passed it numerous times without knowing it was there, and that I will try and check it out this month when I walk by it once more. My excuse is not having any layovers at Schiphol; I usually have those in London or Paris.

(Links: www.airportlibrary.nl, www.englishbreakfast.nl)

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November 25, 2011

Banner vending machine world premiere at Schiphol airport

Filed under: Dutch first,General by Orangemaster @ 4:46 pm

A Facebook friend of mine just tried out the new banner vending machine at Schiphol airport to decorate a colleague’s desk for when she comes back on Monday. Nope, she’s not on Facebook, so it’ll be a surprise.

The banner vending machine is billed as a world premiere, or at least the first ever installed in an airport. The vending machine can be used in English, Dutch, Spanish, French and German, and offer three products: a name board (3.95 euro), banner (9.95 euro) and a big banner (14.95 euro).

The demo woman made a Welcome Home (why in English?) with windmills and clog trimmings, which she then tried to give away to some Dutch person waiting for loved ones. The first man flatly refused, saying it wouldn’t be appreciated, while the second person thought it was odd. The entire outside lettering of the machine is in Dutch, which means it’s not really aimed at foreigners. You can only use bank card (maybe credit card), but not cash it seems from the video.

The banner vending machine seems like a great idea, but I for one was greeted by surprise at the airport two weeks ago coming back from Cork, Ireland with my roller derby team and I wouldn’t trade in their homemade signs for the world.

(Link: rnw.nl, Photos: Marie-Claude Falardeau-Dekker and Kirsten Gesink)

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November 16, 2009

Giant Ashera cat dies in custody

Filed under: Animals by Orangemaster @ 2:31 pm

Way back in January 2008 we wrote a story about Shin-Chan, a giant Ashera cat (pic) that had been caged up at Schiphol Airport and not allowed to enter the country. The cat had been bought by a couple from Eindhoven for EUR 14,695 (US$22,000) from Lifestyle Pets in the United States.

According to Dutchnews.nl, owner Jeffrey Borrenberg told newspaper De Telegraaf he had never been allowed to know where the cat was and if it was being cared for properly. “This is what we were always afraid would happen,” he said. “Don’t tell me this is not an easy way to get rid of a difficult problem.”

The cat has been in custody for almost two years and just died.

(Link: dutchnews.nl)

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August 21, 2009

Turning leftover airplane food into electricity

Filed under: Aviation,Food & Drink,Science,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 10:44 am
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Dutch airline KLM is planning to use the leftovers of 50,000 airplane meals to produce electricity. The idea is to convert waste (refuse and food) into oil and then burn in a gas turbine at a new power station on Schiphol Airport grounds. A feasability study is currently being done and a decision will be made at the end of September.

With an investment of less than EUR 10 mln, the power station could process 20 tonnes of waste a day, which is enough to handle the leftover food. The turbine would then be able of providing electricity for 4,000 homes.

(Link: vleesmagazine.nl)

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June 25, 2009

Fish sitters at Schiphol airport

Filed under: Animals,General by Orangemaster @ 10:55 am
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Schiphol Airport (aka Amsterdam Airport for those of you who ‘break their tongues’ pronouncing ‘Schiphol’ – try ‘Shrip-pole’ – there, see?) has just opened up a goldfish hotel so travellers can have their fish taken care of while they fly away to warmer pastures. The hotel was the brainchild of well-known travel agent D-reizen and was opened by Olympic long-distance swimming champion Maarten van der Weijden.

The aquarium looks like a hotel, with a tennis court and a pool with a slide. “Goldfish dropped off by travellers will get private suites, so that they don’t get mixed up or get sick,” says D-reizen director Steven van Nieuwenhuizen. And if a fish happens to die while its owners are away, D-reizen will make sure they will be able to take the real dead one home, regardless.

(Link: nrc.nl)

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May 5, 2009

Illegal impounding of laptops at airports

Filed under: General,Technology by Branko Collin @ 9:12 am

Patent lawyer Arnout Engelfriet says (Dutch) that searches of mobile phones and laptops at the airports by the marechaussee, a form of military police, may be illegal. He refers to the fact that the powers of the marechaussee are the same as those of the regular police, and regular police may only perform searches when they have good reason to suspect a specific wrongdoing. The marechaussee’s actions are part of a test started last year in the hope to lessen the smuggling of child pornography.

According to tech news site Tweakers.net (Dutch), the justice department wanted to keep the test a secret because of expected “legal complications.” Journalist Brenno de Winter discovered that although 900 mobile phones, 62 hard disks and sundry other digital devices were searched, none of the victims were prosecuted on the basis of these searches.

The marechaussee was installed in 1814 by later king Willem I as a successor to Napoleon’s reviled gendarmerie. Its tasks have included policing of citizens from the word go. When the civil police reorganized in 1988, guard and police duties at national airport Schiphol got assigned to the marechaussee. The organization took over guard duties for the royal familie in 1908, a job hitherto performed by the palace’s gardening staff.

(Photo: colargol87, some rights reserved.)

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February 28, 2009

Crash victim booted from hospital, opts for pot

Filed under: Aviation,Weird by Orangemaster @ 4:07 pm

Crash

Ron Ledford, an American who survived the plane crash this week at Schiphol airport helped crash victims out of the plane and walked to the nearest hospital. As you may have read, it took the emergency services some 40 minutes to get to the crash for whatever reason.

When the emergency services finally arrived, the man decided to walk to the Lucas Andreas hospital to have himself checked out. He was asked to pay 250 euro for the visit, and since he didn’t have it on him, he claims to have gone to a coffeeshop to ‘self-medicate’.

The hospital is looking into this incident and says it will issue a statement. I should bloodly hope so. Amsterdam’s local TV station AT5 met Ron Ledford at a shop downtown where he was being fitted with a free new outfit, thanks to a shop owner who met him and obviously cared about his story (unlike the hospital). He was then brought for more help to the police.

(Link: at5.nl, Photo by flickr.com user Radio Nederland Wereldomroep, some rights reserved.)

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May 16, 2007

No more rushing hands, roaming fingers

Filed under: Aviation,General by Orangemaster @ 10:29 am
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Yesterday Schiphol Airport began using new body-scanning machines at security checkpoints, becoming the first major airport to use the technology to find metals and explosives hidden under clothing.The “security scan” system, which uses harmless radio waves to display head-to-toe images of people, is also being used by other airports on a trial basis, but Schiphol is the only one to deploy the technology for regular use at its checkpoints. It takes three seconds to go through the scanner.

Schiphol is one of the world’s most modern airports, with flat-panel screens (as long as the info is somewhere), airport-wide Web access (totally overpriced BTW) and iris scanners already on offer to those who want to bypass passport lines (it’s the baggage check lines that are nasty).

(Link: News.com)

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March 13, 2007

DJ Tiësto plays in airport luggage hall

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 11:29 am
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On Friday 16 March, DJ Tiësto will be spinning tunes in the new luggage hall at Schiphol airport. The DJ from Breda has already sold 2,400 tickets to fans who did not even know where the gig was to be held. Although the hall has not yet officially been opened, the ‘concert’ will last four hours, marking the beginning of the ‘Elements of Life’ world tour. Tiësto will also ‘perform’ in the Gelredome in Arnhem, the date of which will be announced on Friday.

(The quotes are a veiled reference to the Dutch tax folks who consider some DJs as ‘performing artists’ who can deduct costs, but other DJs as just some ‘people spinning records’.)

(Link)

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